More about: Queen
Gigwise readers choose appropriate band in poll to celebrate Royal Jubilee
Gigwise readers have named Queen the best band of the past 60 years in a vote to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. A somewhat appropriate winner, all things considered.
The Freddie Mercury-fronted rock legends fought off stiff competition from some of the biggest names in rock to top the readers' poll, taking the top spot ahead of 1990s grunge legends Nirvana, who placed second.
Elvis Presley placed third in the poll while David Bowie and The Beatles were fourth and fifth respectively.
At the opposite end of the poll however, it was bad news for Def Leppard, who drew the lowest number of votes out of nearly sixty of the biggest bands of Queen Elizabeth's reign as Queen in the UK. Also faring badly in the poll were Bee Gees, Kiss, The Libertines and Bon Jovi - who also placed in the bottom five.
The poll is still open, so if you disagree with these results and want to have your say, vote now.
Below: 15 amazing facts about Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury's birth name was Farrokh Bulsara. He legally changed his name to Freddie Mercury around 1970, when Queen was formed.
He designed the Queen emblem (AKA the Queen Crest) himself, thanks to a degree in art and graphic design from Ealing Art College.
Freddie was born in Zanzibar. His family moved there so his dad could continue his career at the British Colonial Office.
Freddie had a recorded range of three (almost four) octaves. The majority of his singing fell in the tenor range.
Freddie had a long-term girlfriend named Mary Austin. The pair remained incredibly close. He gave an interview in 1985 and said that she was his only friend and he didn’t want any other friends. He wrote “Love of My Life” about her and when he died, he left her most of his money, his house, and his recording royalties.
Despite being very flamboyant on stage, Freddie was a very shy person and rarely granted interviews with press.
Freddie and his manager issued a statement confirming that he had AIDS the very day before he died. I
Freddie joined Brian May and Roger Taylor to form Queen in 1970.
He was a cat lover. Freddie had as many as ten at one point and even wrote a song about his favourite cat, Delilah.
He and family were Parsis and practiced Zoroastrian religion.
Freddie wrote Crazy Little Thing Called Love in a bath tub. He was in the tub at a hotel and got inspired for the song, it is said that he even had the piano brought tubside to allow him to compose.
Freddie, Brian and Roger all had solo albums and hit singles away from Queen.
Freddie Mercury was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame in 2001.
In memory of Freddie, there is a breed of yellow flowers named after him.
Freddie was a huge fan of Aretha Franklin, Montserrat Caballe, and Jimi Hendrix to name a few.
More about: Queen
Photo: WENN.com
